


Hearthstone Cooldown

by Buntheridon



Category: Hearthstone - Fandom, World of Warcraft
Genre: Erection mentioned a few times but that's it, F/M, Gen, Hearthstone - Freeform, Hearthstone Card Game, Horde vs Alliance, Legion Class Halls, No Sex, Non-con touching, One Shot, Strip Poker, Sylvanas behaving badly, Teasing, Under Table Groping, Unfair Tactics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 12:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18756364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buntheridon/pseuds/Buntheridon
Summary: A Hearthstone card game match between the leaders of the Alliance and the Horde. Poor Manduin must endure all sorts of situations in this collection, but fortunately he's a very resilient king. Just a funny little story, nothing too serious. I left the Hero Powers out of the physical table version just for simplicity, plus added the 5 cards in the beginning, and I’m calling the hero’s health here Hero Points. Soz about confusion.Chronologically situated right after Legion was defeated, pre-BfA, BEFORE Teldrassil & Undercity tragedies. For Ryuujin who gave me this idea <3





	Hearthstone Cooldown

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ryuujin2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryuujin2017/gifts).



 

 

Dalaran is in full festival dress. The streets are decorated with party flags resembling cards and heroes - and littered with the same stuff - and the mages are busy selling costume spell scrolls to all races and classes.

It’s the week of the Hearthstone Tournament. For the duration the Horde and the Alliance have a temporary truce, at least in this city - even in the sewers there are unofficial gambling rings instead of duels.

The biggest and most important matches were yesterday, and the rest of the week is dedicated to the fun, wacky special matches the goblins and gnomes have invented - probably while inebriated on dwarven mead - surprising adventure games with randomly drawn decks. Also the weekend is traditionally the part where nearly everyone gets completely drunk and parties are wild; you don’t have to keep a level head and functioning brain to follow the tight matches anymore.

The winner had been - for the relief of everyone - a neutral party, a Kalu’ak tuskarr named Tinkar. The Alliance took the second post just barely, and the places 3 to 5 were occupied by horde champions. So far there have not been any outbreaks of war.

High King of the Alliance, the beloved and admired young priest Anduin Wrynn of Stormwind has been in the audience since yesterday, honoring the finalists with his presence. The new Warchief of the Horde, unpredictable and of grey morals lately, Sylvanas Windrunner of the Forsaken, also arrived just before the final card game duel began. They sat on opposite sides of the Hall of the Guardian, the class hall for the mages that had been chosen as the neutral ground and filled with tables and seats.

There had been some glances, even a small polite nod for the sake of the game, but tension had risen some levels when the adversaries had arrived in the room. Intelligence and counterintelligence about what happens in Silithus and what the other party was planning on doing about it had been busy these last weeks.

It’s the second-to-last day of the tournament and Anduin has been roaming the magical city with Valeera Sanguinar as his guardian, watching various games in leisure, laughing with people and sipping an ale or two with the dwarves and the pandaren. He’s careful, mind you, not to let himself get even tipsy, but he likes the camaraderie of the toasting custom.

Come sundown he feels he needs a little break from the commotion and walks through the portal into the paladins’ class hall. He’s now technically in Light’s Hope Chapel in Eastern Plaguelands, not in Dalaran, but the portal network makes many places feel closer than they used to. Dismissing his bodyguard with a smile that spells familiarity he finds a quiet corner from the rows of seats in the Hall of Champions in front of the Altar of Ancient Kings. The beautiful light falling through the painted glass windows soothes him. There are very few people in, it’s nicely quiet.

His silent meditation is interrupted by a dark aura he’s not sure belongs to this sanctuary.

“King Wrynn.” He would know that half mocking, half seducing tone anywhere. His shoulders tense up as he turns his head towards her.

“Warchief. I would have thought the presence of the Light isn’t your preferred atmosphere.” She tilts her head, small smirk on her beautiful albeit pale face.

“You are right, it does not give me any solace.” He looks at her, quiet, expecting. He’s trying not to show that he actually is a bit intimidated by her - the new Warchief doesn’t seem to care about diplomacy and after what she did at the gathering in Arathi Anduin has solemnly sworn not to trust her anymore.

She continues. “I have a suggestion for you, lion cub of Stormwind.” The epithet irks his nerves, she made it sound like they were _closely_ acquainted.  

“I would prefer you kept with the protocol, lady Windrunner.”

“Hmpf. Very well, King Wrynn.” She does a little mock curtsey. “Would your majesty join me in a match of Hearthstone to honor these ...festivities?”

It’s his time to scoff. “Am I to believe there’s no ulterior motive to this surprising show of amiability?”

“What other motives could there be except to beat you thoroughly in the game in a public match?”

He ponders this. Her spies must have told her that although he had interest in the card game his skills were inadequate for not being able to practice - he simply didn’t have the luxury of free time, partially thanks to his challenger standing there at the end of the row of benches like there was no enmity at all. She really had the nerve.

“I wouldn’t think it fair to disrupt the schedule of the organizers and overshadow these last games by announcing a duel between _the faction leaders.”_

“So, not a public match, then. How about a more… intimate setting?” Again her voice teases him and he curses the slight response his betrayer of a body gives her in the confines of his royal greaves. This person is the last one on Azeroth he should consider attractive.

“What would be the point in that, Dark Lady? If there’s no-one to see, did we even have the match, one would wonder.”

“How about in here? There are paladins from both sides and none of them are here looking for entertainment - any possible crowd would be completely accidental. You hardly need to fear anything from me inside a temple dedicated to the Light.”

Having let the conversation get this far already it would be utterly defeatist to decline now. He gets up and sighs. This is definitely one of her mind games again, but he’ll try to give her the non-existing benefit of a strong doubt.

“Fine, but just this once, on the condition of you not killing anyone or anything except the imaginary minions on the cards.” They walk the long carpet and some steps towards the meeting table at the Sanctum of Light, keeping a polite and/or wary distance of several feet between them. Sylvanas nods and continues with a neutral, casual tone.

“I promise. I may also set an extra rule, then? I mean, I thought the non-killing was given, but…” She shrugs and he forgets to be observant.

“Fine, fine.”

She eyes his outfit. He had decided to don a more casual look today - not the battleplates but a light priest’s cloth set with his hometown tabard.

“For every killed minion the player has to take off a piece of clothing.”

_“...what?”_

“We need a referee and a card dealer. You there, blood elf, are you any good with Hearthstone?” The Banshee Queen hollers to a paladin.

“Wait…”

“Yes I am. It would be an honor, Warchief. My name’s Tarenar. Tarenar Sunstrike.” The young elf bows deep.

“One moment, if you would…” Anduin attempts to get a word in between.

“Then it’s settled. As a show of good spirit and mercy towards the newbie king I won’t use my own deck but you can fetch us both the most basic and lowly starter decks you can find. I’m a Hunter. I assume the High King is a Priest?”

“Err... yes. _Look…”_

Tarenar bows again and dashes off. Sylvanas fishes a Hearthstone board Light knows from where and slams it down on the table. Some heads turn. She looks defiant, smiling at him like a warrior and a seductress, her hands on her playfully tilted hips.

There’s no way for him to retreat now. _Damn it._

They sit down on opposite chairs in the middle of the long table, the young human with a doubtful wrinkle on his forehead, the undead elf with a confident smirk. It’s like she has already won. Out of courtesy no-one approaches them but they can see and feel some people gather around in a safe distance, forming parties behind the king or the queen, Alliance and Horde members respectively but some tauren between dwarfs, some sin’dorei among humans. He’s in for it now, so he might as well try to even the overwhelming odds of his public dishonouring.

“Since you chose the card dealer I will name our referee who will check the cards before they’re dealt.”

Sylvanas nods resting against the back of her chair. “Of course.” He jolts but tries to act calm: he feels something snaking up his calf under the table. It’s definitely a foot - he can feel the toes through the light fabric - and glancing at his opponent he confirms it’s her. She must have taken off her boot in secret. He cocks an eyebrow.

“I haven’t killed your minions yet, Warchief.”

“Bullseye.” The touch withdraws but he will be nervous about the threat of its return for the duration of the game. He _could_ reveal her unfair games to the onlookers but he’s aware she might turn that against him in their eyes or make it a laughing matter.

Anduin looks around and sees a jolly looking dwarf paladin near the Dalaran portal. The young king waves a hand and smiles.

“Hello, Gidwin. Could I bother you with a small task?” A broad smile appears under the red braided beard and the paladin bows.

“Of course, yer majesty!”

“We need a referee. Your friend just went to fetch two packs, would you be so kind as to check that they are both the same level and only starter cards?” Sylvanas raises an eyebrow for the king seeming to remember every subject’s name and history. No wonder there isn’t room for tactical thinking in that good-willed head of his.

“I’d be honored to, High King!” The Sunstrike blood elf returns and after the decks are checked and declared clean and even they both get their first five cards from Tarenar. Two elaborate Arcane gadgets on the table, familiar from the official tournaments, show how many crystals and Hero points they have each turn and how many of either they have already spent or lost. They both have fifteen Hero Points that can be lost or restored like minions’ Health Points. Zero Hero Points means defeat.

Anduin feels like his shirt collar is a bit too tight. He has to squint and read carefully to even understand the significance of some spells on the cards. Suddenly he misses the war council room and to his horror not only because of his advisors there.

“You first, I assume”, he says, ever the gentleman.

“No, I am the challenger. Your opening, Wrynn.” She only glanced at her hand briefly and immediately seemed know what was what.

 _“First round, one crystal!”_ Gidwin announces and more paladins migrate closer to the table. There are some priests as well in the audience.

The young priest puts a minion card on the table, a Northshire Cleric, and it fills him with nostalgia. The Banshee Queen cocks her head and shoots it with Arcane Shot. The Cleric still survives with one Health Point. Anduin winces. They both get new cards and he puts his immediately on the board, a red raptor.

_“Second round, two crystals!”_

“This one’s a Secret”, Sylvanas says and places a card face down in front of her.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s a Hunter thing, little king. It activates if certain conditions happen to meet. Like you stepping into a trap.”

“Ah. Right.” After a moment of watching his cards he adds: “Keep to the protocol, Warchief.”

“You’re a dull one even on holiday.”

“I might enjoy winning a card game but I’m not here to entertain you.”

_“Third round, three crystals!”_

He now has two minions on the board and she none. It’s starting to look bad with their special rule - if there are no minions on her side, how can he even kill any? And then the whole backwards brilliance of her trick dawns on him. A blush creeps on his cheeks. He cannot want to kill her minions because that would mean, basically, that he wants to make her undress. So he has only two options. Either lose fast and swallow his pride or target only her Hero Points, not her minions.

With resolve in his eyes the young king puts down a Mind Blast card. Sylvanas loses five Hero Points. The crowd goes _“oooo”_ and a bit _“moo”._

“That’s all. Your turn”, Anduin says with that soothing voice of his, trying to make himself relax as well. She smiles.

 _“Goood._ At least in this fight you show some balls.”

“Hey!” Before he can object her absolutely obscene language further she shoots the raptor card dead with another Arcane Shot. The crowd cheers.

“Go on, _undress.”_ Her suggestive tone unnerves him. “Ugh. Fine, a deal’s a deal I guess.” He gets up and pulls his Stormwind Tabard over his head.

“...You have a _strip poker rule_ with this game, your majesty?” asks Gidwin wide-eyed at the end of the table. Anduin nods, cheeks full pink, and folds the tabard neatly on the table.

 _“Ooooh, that makes this faction match extra exciting, ladies and gentlemen! Strip poker rules for killed minions!”_ The onlookers gasp and cheer, and there are giggles.

_“Fourth round, four - “_

“I think we can all count. The repetition is unnecessary”, Sylvanas snaps. Tarenar hands them the new cards and the priest manages not only to place another endangered minion on the table - an Ironforge Rifleman that rips one Hero Point off from his opponent when entering play - but also heal the earlier wounded Cleric back to full health. He gets an extra card from his deck.

Sylvanas reveals the Secret card grinning with malicious glee. It’s Snipe: It kills the Rifleman immediately.

 _“Ironforge’s finest has been shot down by the sneaking hunter's traps!”_ bellows Gidwin. The audience claps and boos.

“Please, could you just… not.” Anduin gets up from the chair and thinks for a moment. “Do boots count?”

“No. I’m choosing to interpret ‘item of clothing’ very literally.” Her eyes scan his form in a deliberately lecherous way and she shows her teeth when she sees he decides his belt to be next. She looks at her hand and places two minions on her side of the board. A bear with Taunt shield around it and a wolf that also increases the bear’s power.

“Now you can try to strip _me,_ High King.”

_“Five crystals!”_

Her public shaming game is so obvious and vulgar Anduin decides to man up. The people are fond of him, they would not like to see him ridiculed and if that happened, they’d probably be on his side, especially paladins. Right?

“I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing to a _lady”_ , he says totally poker-faced and kills her Grizzly with Shadow Word: Pain and the Timber Wolf with the Cleric. All his cards require too many Crystals to be used so he has to settle for Smiting off two more Hero Points from her. She is now at seven. He might even survive this match, he sighs inwardly.

Sylvanas doesn’t seem to mind at all that she now has to get up and undress. It’s more like everything in this game is in her favor. She strips off her hooded cloak revealing the blond curls that are so rarely seen in public - and that underneath she has the infamous chestpiece that _barely hides the chest,_ as it were. Anduin gulps. To see her this close in that… that… _bikini top_ is a bit distracting.

“What else should I take off, king Wrynn?” Her metallic voice drips all the possible brands of syrup and the audience holds their breath when her hands move to the front clasps of the chestpiece. Anduin opens his mouth and does not say _you wouldn’t._

She clicks the left shoulderpad off and seems to consider something.

“Do these count as one item or two, I wonder?”

 _“Krhm._ I think they are both individual items of clothing. Leave the other on.”

“What’s this, does the Alliance not want to see their enemy defeated and stripped of all her decorations?” She sits back down, leans forward and when her blonde curls fall over her bare shoulder the young human almost forgets they are among a slowly growing audience. Then he gets a hold of himself and frowns.

“I’d rather see both factions at peace. Your turn, Warchief.”

“Ever the blue-eyed optimist. Uhh, these basic decks are almost as boring as you are”, Sylvanas sighs and puts down a troll minion with Taunt. She uses another card to get a new one from the deck Tarenar is guarding and a grin flashes on her lips.

_“Six crystals, ladies and gentlemen and other beings!”_

Anduin puts down an ogre minion and shrugs. “You are probably right. But boring is also safe and the opposite of stressful. If I can bestow a _boring life_ to my people I’m happy. Your turn.”

 _“Well, one can entertain oneself in many ways”,_ she says under her breath and he feels the sneaking toes climb up his leg anew, this time higher. His stern glare at her does nothing and she leaves the foot like a trap on the edge of his chair between his thighs. He inhales and tries to ignore it. Soon he’ll probably have to get up and take another garment off, so there’s a way out of this predicament.

The Banshee Queen slams a very ordinary raptor - the very same he used earlier - on the table followed by a Houndmaster that gives the beast beside it more of everything, power and durability. Her minion cards swarm in Anduin’s eyes having turned into cloth items in his mind. Is there a possibility to drop his own Hero Points with his own actions? Like, a suicide spell perhaps? No, that one must be a Warlock card.

“I’m all done. Do your worst, your majesty”, she drawls in that mocking but erotic way she does.

_“Seven crystals!”_

In secret, under the table, her toes inch forward at the inside of his left thigh. He suppresses a shudder and looks at his choices. He could either kill the raptor and lose his ogre in the process or kill the troll and lose both of his minions - _waiit a minute, that’s perfect!_ Even if he cannot “kill” his own Hero Points he sure as Helheim can kill his minions thus avoiding the rule of undressing. At least for his part.

He sacrifices both his existing minions to get rid of the Sen’Jin Shieldmaster, grinning at his new tactic. The paladins around them clap and cheer. Anduin places a Frostwolf Grunt minion on the table.

_“Look at tha’ genius strategy of the one and only High King! Suicide mission plus the usage of the enemy’s own orcs!”_

“Mmm, genius indeed”, Sylvanas Windrunner purrs and drops her remaining shoulderpad off while not moving from her seat. Instead her toes reach and find her opponent’s most vulnerable part that has nothing to do with minions or spells. He inhales sharply and only his Discipline keeps him from jumping up.

 _“A bit unfair, isn’t that?”_ He murmurs and tries to endure the slowly moving touch on his private bits.

“Oh, you know there’s that goblin saying: everything’s fair in trade and card games.” She kills off his orc and puts down two minion cards that somehow turn into three. There’s that wolf again, and an orc hunter that apparently brings a boar pet with her. _Hunters._ Sylvanas now has five minions in front of her and he has none. All his options seem bleak and the erection isn’t helping any of this.

“Beat me if you can, human. But first: a garment off.”

Oh, he can’t get up now. He’s glad he has his royal blue-and-golden sash over his chest, a very useless decorative piece - until now. He takes it off and places it over the tabard on the table beside him.

 _“Eight crystals!”_ Gidwin is enjoying his role mightily it seems.

Cheeks burning Anduin picks his chosen card between his fingers, hesitates a while eyeing her as neutrally as he manages to see what she is still wearing, and puts a Holy Nova down. It rips her of her three smallest minions and two points of her dwindling Hero Points.

_“The king has felled a bunch of enemies and wounded his opponent!”_

“Aren’t you being a bit biased, dwarf?” the undead high elf says in perfect Common and reaches down under the table without withdrawing the cursed groping foot that was already out of the boot before the game started.

“Two boots and a glove. Anything else?” He is _not_ going to remind her that the boots didn’t count. They are _so_ counting when it comes to her.

Anduin places another Northshire Cleric and a trivial little murloc on the board - for nothing, as they are snuffed out immediately by Sylvanas’ Hunter and Houndmaster. To the young man’s relief that last minion at least killed itself as well in the process.

“Ugh, such disappointing minions. I could have beaten you with _myself_ if I had my tournament deck now. Or with _your own father.”_ She slams an ordinary, disappointing yeti on the board and looks at him expectantly. Anduin uses the opportunity to nudge his chair back enough for her intrusive foot to drop off reach. But he cannot stand up, nooo way, the pants won’t hide a thing. He shrugs his white-and-gold jacket off his shoulders revealing a white linen button-up shirt. He now regrets bitterly for not wearing gloves this morning.

“Mmm, classy. _Take it off.”_

Anduin feels how cold sweat starts gathering on his forehead. But rules are rules even if set using devious tricks and declining at this point would make him seem petty and a spoilsport, especially in the eyes of those human and blood elf women who seem to find mutual understanding by staring at the young king particularly keenly from across the room. _Oh, well._ _For the truce, I guess._

He forces on a smile that he hopes is flirty and opens the several little shirt buttons, removes the golden cufflinks and keeping his gaze low reveals his toned chest and abdomen. He hears several small whistles and cheers but when he glances at the crowd they all fall silent. He sees grins and red cheeks among them. The young king hasn’t really been under anyone’s eyes like this and some part of him even enjoys it a bit. He undresses the white shirt and folds it on the pile.

Sylvanas purrs under her breath. The annoying brat is indeed very pretty. This game was a good idea in so many ways.

Feeling very, very self-conscious about his partial nudity Anduin checks the new card. He could manage it, almost. Only five points off her and he wins, and the minions don’t have Taunt so he can just forget them and go for her. A sort of parallel to the real war, forgotten in the midst of this silly interlude, rises in him. She probably let him win, but he only wants to get out of the situation now. Still, the metaphor is dramatic: she wastes her troops and he still wins.

_“Nine crystals!”_

Only if he had something to hit those points with. He puts down a Stormwind Champion he couldn’t afford before and that elicits a cheer among the Alliance paladins. A Holy Smite thins her Hero Point pool to a meager three. _Next round she’s finished._

With a grin the Warchief of the Horde puts down another Secret, an Elven Archer that takes one Hero Point off Anduin - his first - and slowly, over-dramatically puts down a very dull monkey… that has Taunt. Anduin groans and doesn’t care if everyone hears him. Now he cannot attack her directly until that ape is taken care of.

The thought of her removing any more clothing after that glove makes him deeply uneasy - knowing her she might even just go with the rule till the end just to shake him.

And it shakes him already. _Damn these hormones._

 _“Now will you look at that move! Will she go down or will she strip na---ooofff!”_ Gidwin receives a loving deep elbow thrust into his beer belly from Tarenar.

“Behave, goldilocks. That’s my queen you’re talking about.”

Coughing the dwarf announces the tenth round. _“Ten crystals! Now we are at the maximum!”_

Anduin takes a new card with shaking hands and almost yelps of joy. Another Holy Nova has come to save him. It will kill off the taunting minion among all but one and then the way is clear to march over her last remaining Hero Point very poetically with the Stormwind Champion. He slams the card down defeating the Patriarch, the Archer, the Hunter and two Hero Points from her withering pool. The Yeti remains but before anyone can start even thinking about commenting he picks the last point with his hometown soldier and wins.

Alliance cheers. The Horde also kind of cheers. It’s a game after all.

“Good boy, Wrynn. Well done.” Grinning she reveals her Secret Snake Trap that spawns three little minion cards for her posthumously.

The Banshee Queen doesn’t seem to mind losing at all. She just smiles there, hands on her belt like she had been getting ready to take everything off. The trap clicks and goes off in the young man’s head as he counts all the items of clothing, even assumed hidden ones, that would have been removed if he hadn’t won this round. He isn’t going to get up from that table for a long, long while.

“Thank you, Warchief. It was... an interesting game”, he manages with his polite public speech tone. Sylvanas stands up, gathers her clothing and boots in a heap and saunters over to his side hips swaying. She slides her cold fingers briefly over his burning red cheeks.

“I thought you were the _blue_ team… But I’m sure _some_ parts of you fit the color theme soon enough.” She leaves for the stairs towards the Plaguelands. “Good game, little lion. See you on the real battlefield.”

The audience disperses, some paladins pat him on the shoulder congratulating or showing sympathy. The king stays on his spot pretending to study the cards when he hears Turalyon’s voice.

“Anduin… why are you half naked?”

“I… won a card game.”

 

 

 


End file.
